A set of four paintings with elegant ladies in the four seasons

Description:

China, 19th c.
je 146,5 x 49,8 cm (170 x 62,5 cm R.)
Ink, pigments, and opaque white on silk, mounted and framed with a passe-partout. Each of the paintings depicts a lady practicing one of the feminine virtues: music, beauty, perfumery, and education, during one of the seasons. They are each dressed in flowing robes of sumptuous silk, their hairstyles are artfully pinned and adorned, and their faces are carefully made up. In spring, in a garden of white-blossoming magnolias, a lady burns incense in an elegant vase. She leans on a ledge and stands beside a lively body of water; in summer, a lady plays a qin zither, sitting next to a bench and a vase of white lotus; a standing lady reads a book, standing in front of a desk furnished with ink, brushes, and paper. A stool is placed next to her, and a flowering guihua bush is visible through the window above. Another lady checks her hair ornament in a mirror held by a younger servant who clings closely to her. The two are standing in front of a large screen depicting a mountain landscape.
Old South German private collection, collected before 1990 - Traces of age, minimally wear